Where a patient retains a certain number of teeth but has lost other teeth, it is common practice to provide a removable appliance which will support false teeth in a proper position for cooperation with the existing teeth so that the patient can carry on normal chewing or masticating functions. The supporting portion of the appliance for the false teeth if rigidly secured to the remaining portion of the appliance secured to the abuttment teeth can result in stress when the false teeth are engaged by the opposing teeth during mastication. In other words, torque and stress components are transmitted through the appliance to the abuttment teeth to which the appliance is secured.
In view of the foregoing problem, it is common practice to provide what is known in the art as a "stress breaker" type of appliance. In this type of appliance, the portion secured to the abuttment teeth is not rigidly coupled to the supporting portion for the false teeth but rather relative motion between these two portions is permitted. As a consequence, stress is not transmitted to the abuttment teeth when pressure is brought to bear on the false teeth.
While presently available stress breaker appliances do serve to "break" the stress, there are still problems encountered with the interconnecting or coupling of the portions relatively movable to each other on the appliance. It will be appreciated that the relative motion must be guided in order to avoid "canting" of the false teeth relative to the abuttment teeth. Further, there should be definite stops or limits of the relative motion so that the interconnecting means cannot inadvertently come uncoupled. The interconnecting arrangements presently available are not all satisfactory in these respects. Moreover, they are relatively expensive to manufacture.